More that 100 Santa Rita Jail inmates now infected with coronavirus

More than 50 inmates tested positive overnight for the coronavirus at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, bringing the total to 101 in the biggest outbreak the jail has seen during the pandemic.

DUBLIN — Around 55 inmates have tested positive with the coronavirus at Santa Rita Jail in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 101 in a matter of days.

On Wednesday night, 40 inmates tested positive for the virus who were mostly kitchen or laundry workers. It was the biggest cluster of positive inmates since the pandemic began, until Friday.

The newest cluster is contained in Housing Unit 22, which is separate from the kitchen/laundry workers who are in Housing Unit 25, said Alameda County Sheriff’s Spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly. Those in unit 22 are mostly medium-security inmates, Kelly said.

“The buildings are completely separate,” he said Friday. “But then again, all it takes is one person who can infect others.”

All the new positive inmates are asymptomatic, which means they showed no regular signs of the COVID-19 virus. The jail is conducting proactive testing because of the outbreak.

“We will continue to test as many as we can,” Kelly said. The sheriff’s office will also conduct “contact tracing” to determine how the new cluster may have been exposed.

There were a total of 1,844 inmates in Santa Rita Jail as of Friday.

All inmates will now be required to wear masks any time they leave their cell/living area. This was previously not required and the decision was recently made in speaking with public health officials, Kelly said.

The sheriff’s office is in the process of filming an educational video with the new policy that will be shown to inmates, Kelly said.

Friday’s new numbers now bring the total of inmates infected to 169 since the pandemic began in March. None of the inmates have died because of the virus and generally, all inmates have had mild to moderate symptoms, according to the sheriff’s office.

Gilbert Martinez was one of those inmates who tested positive Wednesday, he said in an interview with this newspaper Thursday. He worked in the jail kitchen side-by-side with others and a third-party vendor, Aramark, who also helps prepare food.

He said the jail merged laundry workers and kitchen workers together on July 9 in one housing unit in bunk beds. Soon after, one inmate tested positive, then four more, until he and around 36 others were informed they were positive on Wednesday night.

At least another 42 staff or contractors who work in the jail also have tested positive for the virus. One deputy with COVID-19 is in critical condition, although it’s not clear where he contracted the virus, according to Kelly.